Hello! This funny and rather unusual fish, in fact,
is fraught with mortal danger if it is improperly cooked and eaten. This fish is called puffer.
So it is called by the Japanese, although it is correctly called a puffer food prepared
from this fish, and the fish itself is called the Brown Puffer and belongs to the type of
sea ray-finned fish from the blowfish family of the blowfish order.
This fish loves coastal areas of the brackish waters of the Pacific Ocean. It is widespread
in the Sea of Okhotsk, in the waters of the Japan, East China and Yellow Seas. Adult fish
are found at a depth of no more than 100 meters. Fry can also be seen at the mouths of brackish
rivers, and as they mature, they move farther from the coast to the open seas. Fugu spawns
in spring, attaching eggs to rocks in quiet places at a shallow depth (about 20 meters).
Skalozub is a shallow-water fish, it loves small sea bays and calm waters. They can be
found quite often in shallow waters and in sandy areas near estuaries or canals, as well
as near reef and algal areas. Fugu fish is the most expensive and deadly
dish in Japanese cuisine. And it is also one of the oldest foods known to mankind. According
to archaeological finds, the inhabitants of the Japanese islands ate puffer long before
our era, and, judging by the fact that the Land of the Rising Sun is still densely populated,
the ancient Japanese knew the secret of cooking this fish.
A fugu is a small, palm-sized fish that can swim with its tail forward. Instead of scales,
she has thin elastic skin. If frightened, the puffer will instantly swell and take the
form of a ball studded with sharp spikes. This process is controlled by a special valve
located at the bottom of the fish's mouth. If suddenly the shark dares to dine with this
fish, then the swollen spiky ball gets stuck in the throat, and the unfortunate predator
dies. In this state, it is three times its original
size. This happens due to the water, which the fish abruptly sucks into itself. Deadly
poison - tetrodotoxin - is found in milk, caviar, genitals, skin and liver of fugu.
This substance has a nerve effect. It is about 1200 times more dangerous than potassium cyanide.
The lethal dose for humans is only one milligram of tetrodotoxin. The most dangerous part of
fish is the liver. The Japanese consider it the most delicious part of fish.
The poison begins to act in the human body approximately 10 minutes after ingestion.
The mechanics of the action of a toxic substance is to paralyze the muscular system of living
organisms. In this case, the victim of the poison retains full consciousness until the
moment of death. In one fish, this substance is enough to kill
forty people. Moreover, there is currently no effective antidote against this terrible
neurotoxin. First aid and treatment consists mainly of symptomatic and supportive therapy.
With any degree of poisoning, the victims must be hospitalized for artificial maintenance
of the respiratory system and circulatory system until the peak of the action of the
poison passes. In microscopic portions, fugu poison is used as a means of preventing age-related
diseases and as a medicine for diseases of the prostate gland.
Interestingly, the puffer fish itself is not initially poisonous. Dangerous poison begins
to accumulate in it in the process of life. It enters the puffer along with food, which
is made up of various organisms containing small amounts of tetrodotoxin.
The main meeting of a person with a fugu takes place in a specialty restaurant in Japan,
where you need to shell out $ 1000 for this pleasure. Here the gourmet literally entrusts
his life into the hands of the chef. Indeed, according to statistics, ten to twenty people
a year die in Japan, poisoned by puffer. True, supporters of the national delicacy rightly
point out that most of these people die at home - they try to cook the fugu themselves,
but they cannot cope with this task. The most famous death by fugu happened in
1975. The legendary kabuki actor Mitsugoro Bando Eighth, who was called the "living national
treasure", died of paralysis after eating a fugu liver in a restaurant in Kyoto. This
was his fourth attempt at a dangerous dish. All chefs wishing to cook fugu must have a
special license, which can only be obtained through a two-year apprentice internship and
rigorous written and practical exams. The practice test looks like this: the candidate
is given 20 minutes, during which he must cut the fugu and cook sashimi from it, this
is the name of a raw fish dish with a spicy soy and horseradish sauce. To pass the practical
exam and obtain a license, the chef must eat the dish he has prepared.
By the way, not so long ago in Japan there was an old unwritten law, the essence of which
was that the cook who prepared the dish and poisoned the visitor was obliged to eat it
himself or commit ritual suicide - the so-called seppuku or hara-kiri.
Unsurprisingly, prices for these treats range from $ 100 to $ 500 per serving. However,
foreigners visiting Japan are willing to pay crazy money to experience the dangerous balancing
act on the brink of life and death. They say that once you have tasted this fatal dish,
you become attached to it forever. The Japanese eat 10,000 tons of this fish a year. Osaka
alone has around 80,000 fugu chefs. It is considered a winter delicacy, most popular
in December and January. Fugu cutting is a fine and jewelry art, which
only a few people master. To prepare puffer fish, a chef must follow 30 prescribed steps,
even breaking one of which can lose his license. The cooks take live fish from the aquarium
and punch its head with a hammer. When cutting, you need to cut off the fins
with quick and accurate blows, separate the mouth apparatus and use a sharp knife to open
the belly of the puffer. Then, carefully so as not to break, remove the poisonous entrails
and dispose of them by placing the poisoned organs in special containers kept under lock
and key. They are disposed of like radioactive waste in a waste incinerator. After the poisonous
parts have been removed with a special knife, the fish is cut into pieces and then washed
under water to remove toxins and blood. Then the fish fillets are cut into thin transparent
slices and thoroughly washed under running water to finally get rid of traces of blood
and poison. One of the most famous fugu dishes is fugusashi.
Mother-of-pearl slices of raw fish are stacked in petals on a round dish. Often the chef
creates a real picture from the pieces: landscapes with butterflies or a flying bird. The fish
is eaten by dipping the slices into a mixture of ponzu (vinegar sauce), asatsuki (chopped
chives), momiji-iroshi (grated daikon radish), and red pepper.
The most important mystery of the fugu is why people take mortal risks. Fans of extreme
cuisine claim that the taste of puffer fish is reminiscent of Japanese paintings on silk
- something sophisticated, elusive and smooth. The most valuable in it are precisely the
thrill, the emotional outburst and the huge adrenaline rush that accompany the use of
fugu in food. Some even consider eating such fish as a kind of Russian roulette.
In addition to its incredible taste, fugu is believed to have a narcotic effect. Aerobatics
when cooking blowfish is to leave just as much poison as is necessary in order to cause
a feeling of mild euphoria in eaters. Gourmets who have tasted this fish claim that as the
dish is consumed, a paralyzing wave rolls over: first, the legs are taken away, then
the arms, then the jaws. Only the eyes retain the ability to move. The wave lasts for several
seconds, but during this time, a person experiences a storm of emotions, balancing on the edge
of life and death. However, after a moment everything comes to life, the gift of speech
returns, arms and legs begin to move. Fugu is an annoying and quick-witted fish
that is capable of starving everyone within its feeding zone, destroying everything that
can be eaten in its path. Fish is found everywhere. If she attacked the coastal zone, then there
is no chance of catching another fish, since she scares everyone away with her presence.
Since the puffer lives in reefs and rocks at the bottom of the sea, it is impossible
to catch it in a net thrown from a boat. Therefore, to catch it, you need reliable tackle. Thick,
very long line with a few hooks will do just fine. All that remains is to put the bait
and throw the tackle into the sea. Her favorite bait is squid, although sprats are fine too.
Now all that remains is to wait. After two hours, the line is checked, and
often the fishermen are left empty-handed, which is why the fugu is so expensive. But
today the fishermen were lucky and they caught 6 fish. It may not seem like much, but one
such fish can cost 200 pounds, or about twenty thousand rubles.
The caught fish must be cut. The insides of the fish are poisonous, but the skin is not.
Do not touch your eyes, because they contain poison. The eyes are incredibly poisonous.
Fugue is dangerous, not only for people, they even kill each other. And the chef has to
cook the fish while it's still alive. Therefore, you need to pull out your teeth, otherwise
they will kill each other in the aquarium. Fishermen masterfully remove the teeth of
a fish. She can now be safely transported ashore.
In Japan's largest fish markets, fugue is sold at auctions. Bidding is for each fish.
It's common to buy 1 fish for $ 1,000. Some go up to $ 10,000. If you decide to buy it
in a store, then it is unrealistic. It is simply impossible to purchase it, except at
an auction. The process of buying a dangerous delicacy
from fishermen is unusual. The seller and the buyer, without naming their price, put
their hands in special black wide sleeves. There they show on their fingers the figure
for which they are ready to purchase the goods. If agreement is found, the fish is considered
sold. The auction stops at five o'clock. In just
half an hour of trading, a fugue worth tens of thousands of dollars was sold here. From
here, the fish sold is released back into the water and taken to the best restaurants
in Japan. However, not everyone is willing to risk their
lives to taste fugu meat. Therefore, in Japan and China, many specialized farms have appeared
that artificially grow puffer, which does not contain poison.
As a rule, farmed fish are not as expensive as those caught in the wild. This is due to
the fact that supporters of Japanese traditions prefer fish caught on the high seas or in
the ocean. This fact is due to the fact that many highly qualified chefs have spent a lot
of money, time and effort to obtain a special permit for the right to cook dishes from this
fish - a license. Therefore, chefs of such high qualifications do not want to waste time
preparing dishes from cheap fugu. Non-poisonous type of fugu, fed with mackerel
and other non-toxic food. Fans appreciated her taste and stated that
it was as pleasant as the fugu with poisonous organs. Many restaurants immediately developed
a keen interest in the liver of non-poisonous fugu, because this part of the fish is usually
banned. But many reasonably stated that “Non-toxic fugu is boring. This fish is attractive precisely
because of its toxicity ”. After all, without its toxin, the puffer fish
becomes just another kind of fish - quite tasty, but nothing special. It is not for
nothing that it is in the spring, when fugu is considered the most poisonous, that gourmets
pay the highest price.